Can Muslim radicals be rehabilitated?

Officials believe Al Qaeda is responsible for two package-bombs mailed from Yemen. The packages, which were sent to U.S. addresses, were discovered before they detonated.

Al Qaeda is back in the spotlight as the chief suspect in the recent mailings of two parcels packed with explosives from Yemen to the United States. But equally newsworthy is the way in which the plot may have been foiled.

If the reports turn out be true, they could potentially lend credence to Saudi Arabia’s system of rehabilitating Islamic radicals who are imprisoned so that they can be released back into society without threat.

David Cook, a Baker Institute Rice scholar and an associate professor of religious studies at Rice University, has written extensively on the subject of rehabilitating Islamic radicals — and the challenges faced by Muslim and non-Muslim governments.

In a just-published paper, he notes the Saudi approach has generally focused on eliminating the leadership of radical groups and offering periodic amnesties to members who turn themselves in. The Saudis also have sought to persuade higher-level prisoners to renounce their allegiance to these types of groups, and actively dialogue with and debate radicals in hopes of convincing others to do the same. According to his research, the idea is that: “Radicals coming out of prison can serve as powerful proponents of their ideology or deter its appearance among the next generation.”

Cook says it’s important for Western governments to pay attention to what other countries are doing in this area because the issue of Islamic radicalism is a global one.

“The one place where radicalism is truly flourishing … is among expatriate and minority Muslim communities in non-Muslim countries (mostly in Europe, but to some extent in the United States, Australia, and South America),” he writes.